


Cherry and Atticus Save the Neighborhood

by PerkyGoth14



Category: Hey Arnold!
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-09
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-07 00:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5436353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PerkyGoth14/pseuds/PerkyGoth14
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cherry, Atticus, and Patch are given a weird assignment to go into the neighborhood of Hilwood. There, they meet an optimistic boy named Arnold just as his neighborhood is going to be tore down by a vile man by the name of Sheck. Will they be able to save the neighborhood that requires more than a simple petition or block party to convince the mayor to keep everyone on top?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was a normal hot summer's day and all was well in the neighborhood, especially for the kids. They were either just enjoying their time off from school or running through the sprinkler, or getting ice cream from the Jolly Olly Man. What a peaceful world they had the privilege of living in. However... Little did they know, that this would not last for long. Not just about growing up, but for the future of their neighborhood. Someone was now bouncing a basketball that was flat, it was Arnold and his best friend, Gerald.

"I'm telling you, Arnold," Gerald said to him as they walked down the block together and he bounced the ball for his best friend. "Your ball is flat!"

"It's not flat," Arnold shook his head. "It's just a little low on air."

However, the final bounce made the ball pop and land back in Arnold's hand like a deflated balloon.

"Like I said, your ball is flat." Gerald smirked to him just as they were about to cross the street.

The football-headed kid just smirked at him. A city bus passed the two fourth graders after they crossed the road and showed two familiar kids.

"Is this the right place?" Cherry looked around in curiosity.

"I think so." Atticus said.

Then a familiar Dalmatian puppy ran out of the bus.

"Finally, we are here!" Patch said.

Cherry reached into her bag and gave him some cheese crackers. "Sorry... I fell asleep..."

Patch smiled and ate them to tie him over until they would get some food.

"So, who are we looking for?" Cherry asked.

"Someone named Arnold." Atticus said.

Cherry looked to a map and walked with Patch and Atticus down the block. "There's a boarding house called Sunset Arms that says the owner has a grandson named Arnold, but... I can't read that last name..."

A couple of helicopters came over them and there were some townspeople gathered together.

"That can't be good..." Cherry put the map aside for now.

"You're right, this can't be good at all." Atticus said.

"Oh, boy, we're in for another adventure, aren't we?" Patch asked, knowing where this was heading to.

"Can't I ever take a vacation?" Cherry sounded bored already.

The two boys, Arnold and Gerald, went to the crowd. Cherry, Atticus, and Patch joined in, wondering what was going on.

'What is going on?' Patch thought.

"Coming through, very important people comin' through!" Cherry emerged from the crowd.

The others looked concerned as they gathered together.

"What the heck is going on?" Atticus asked.

They looked ahead and saw an announcer on TV that was reporting.

"Mr. Green, what's going on?" the football-headed boy asked the owner of the butcher shop.

"It's Sheck," Mr. Green told him. "He wants to buy the whole neighborhood to knock it down and build some fancy shopping mall."

"Who's Sheck?" Arnold asked.

The crowd looked to the TV as the woman announcer was talking about what was going on and what was planned for Hillwood's future with this intruder who wants to get rid of their neighborhood and the residents all listened attentively. 'The plan, approved by the mayor moments ago, would allow Future Tech Industries to redevelop a six-square-block area between 33rd and 39th Streets. Oh, I understand the president and CEO of Future Tech Industries, Mr. Scheck, is about to make a statement.'

'My guess is that this Sheck guy is an evil man.' Patch thought to himself.

Atticus noticed tension in his puppy, so he quickly soothed him before he would possibly lose control and attack someone. Sheck had a smug smile on his face and thanked the mayor for letting him speak.

"Nice suit." Gerald smirked.

"Shh!" a man shushed him so they could hear what Sheck wanted to tell the people with him about destroying their homes.

'I am behind Mr. Sheck's plan 100%.' Mayor Dixie commented with a smile.

'How can the mayor possibly agree with that evil plan?!' Patch thought to himself while growling.

"This is obviously evil..." Cherry folded her arms slightly at the man on TV.

'Although some of you in the affected area may have concerns about how this plan will impact your homes and businesses, let me assure you, change is good," Sheck told the people. 'This plan represents the end of urban decay, the end of your broken-down shops and apartment buildings, the end of antiquated and dilapidated storefronts. It's time for a new world. Out with the old, in with the new.'

"What's wrong with old things?" Arnold spoke up. "Some old things are great!"

"Yeah, like Mrs. Vitello!" a fat boy spoke up, only to get hit in the back of his head with a flower bouquet by the woman behind him.

"Whippersnapper!" Mrs. Vitello glared at the fat boy.

"OWW!" the boy held his head in pain.

Cherry rolled her eyes, but had a weak laugh, that was kind of funny and rude.

"This is goin' on for a month," Mr. Green sounded devastated. "The city council recommended against it, but the mayor's lettin' him do it anyway. I never figured he'd pull it off."

"What does it mean?" Gerald asked.

"It means they want you to move away so Scheck's corporation can move in." Cherry explained since her parents were on city council and she knew some things like this.

"NO!" the crowd shouted in dismay.

'It's time to put the past behind us,' Sheck continued. 'I have seen the future, and it's Future Tech Industries.'

Patch simply growled at the man on the TV and really wanted to make him hurt for wanting to take down the neighborhood. Two girls were protesting about the neighborhood and then suddenly, there was music heard in the background. Everyone turned as a boy was dressed in royal clothes, singing along to a song he was making up along the way. This caught attention, but it was found to be an annoyance.

"No," Arnold glared to him. "No singing, Eugene."

"Thank you..." Cherry sounded relieved.

"But I thought the occasion called for it," Eugene insisted before starting to sing again. "We may be just a few~..."

"No, this is serious." Arnold told him.

A truck carrying a bulldozer was then driving down the street, worrying the crowd once more.

"We can't take this lyin' down," Mr. Green spoke up. "We should do something."

"But what can we do?" the fat boy asked.

Cherry shook Atticus. "Think of something, Detective Boy!"

"Well, if we did some bake sales and a party and also find some information about this neighborhood's history and find something important to make it a historic landmark, then the neighborhood would be saved." Atticus said, using his detective skills.

Cherry blinked. "And yet you're behind on other classes except English or Gym..."

"I agree with him!" Arnold liked Atticus's idea. "We have to let them know we won't go down without a fight!"

Everyone in there agreed with Arnold, well, all except for one girl who was on top of a roof. The girl was watching Arnold and was about to shoot him with something, but she stopped herself, eventually she did shoot someone, but it was just a plunger arrow, so it didn't cause anyone any harm. Patch wondered where that came from, but stayed focused.

"Mr. Green can write the petition." Arnold suggested.

"Say no more, I'm already workin' on it." Mr. Green smiled proudly, now feeling hopeful.

Everyone else began to feel hopeful as well having a feeling this just might work.

"Kinda weird to just get here only for this place to be destroyed..." Cherry shrugged after the crowd was disbanding.

"Who are you guys?" Arnold looked at the visitors. "I don't think I've seen you around..." he then bent down and gave Patch a friendly pet and scratch, loving animals very much.

And where Patch really was enjoying that.

"Well, that's because we are new here my name is Atticus Fudo, this is my best friend, Cherry and you've already met Patch." Atticus smiled.

"Where you guys staying?" Arnold asked.

"We heard of a boarding house called Sunset Arms," Cherry put her hands in her pockets. "Do you know it?"

"Yeah, my grandpa owns it, I can take you there." Arnold offered.

"Thanks." Atticus smiled.

Arnold smiled back and led the way. Patch happily followed, really looking forward to this.


	2. Chapter 2

"Do they allow pets?" Cherry asked.

"It should be fine," Arnold allowed. "I have a pet pig named Abner."

"If they do allow pets, then I think we don't have to worry." Atticus smiled.

The four of them made it to the boarding house and they walked in as Arnold's pig and various cats and dogs chased each other down the stairs.

"Does that happen a lot?" Cherry asked.

"Occasionally." Arnold replied like it was normal.

"Wow, so almost like a stampede of pets." Atticus said.

Arnold walked ahead of them and called for his grandfather.

"That's my name!" Grandpa called as he was looking over some old things in their home. "Don't wear it out!"

"Um, sir, what are you looking for?" Atticus asked.

"Just lookin' around..." Grandpa mumbled as he looked around. "Who're your friends?"

Arnold gave their names with a small smile, but it shaped into an instant frown once he wondered what might happen to him and his grandparents or the other borders with the neighborhood destruction. There was then an old woman in a cheerleader uniform and started to make up some cheers.

"Grandpa, we're worried..." Arnold told his grandfather.

'If I know Atticus, this plan will work.' Patch thought to himself and smiled.

Arnold glanced to Patch curiously, but listened to his supportive grandfather.

"Don't worry, Arnold, we're not going to sell the boarding house, we're with you and your friends all the way, right, Pookie?" Arnold's grandfather asked his wife.

"Home team, home team, woo!" Grandma cheered as she had a lot of energy and did exercises like a free spirited teenager would, instead of a broken down old lady.

"What if Sheck makes everyone else sell, sir?" Cherry asked the old man.

"Then I guess they'll bulldoze down the neighborhood, short man," Grandpa sounded grave, which made Arnold a little sad about the possibility of everyone he knows and loves might be gone forever. "Pookie and I will have to move to an old folks' home and who knows what'll happen to you. You'll probably be sent to a foster home in some Midwestern state like Manitoba or... Wait. No, that's not a state, that's a province. Oh, no, Arnold! You'll be a Canadian!"

Arnold narrowed his eyes slightly. "Grandpa, we're serious..."

"Yes, sir, this is serious." Atticus added in.

"I know, you all, but we're not cooked yet," Grandpa soothed. "Whatever happens, we'll all be okay, even if your new friends have to know us as Canadians. They have very good bacon there... Canadian Bacon!"

The others glanced at him before rolling their eyes slightly, even Patch followed suit.

"This thing on?" Grandpa tilted his head. "Come on, one of you work with me!"

"Come on, guys, I'll let you stay in Mr. Smith's room while he's out of town." Arnold told his guests, leaving with them. "Good night, Grandpa... Good night, Grandma..."

"GO TEAM!" Grandma cheered as Grandpa accidentally sat on an open bear trap.

"Thanks, Arnold, and sounds like your grandfather sat on something painful." Atticus winced.

"Grandpa..." Arnold rolled his eyes and shook his head, and finally came to the room. "Here we go... It's nothing like my room, but I hope you guys enjoy it..."

Cherry, Atticus, and Patch walked in, there were a couple of twin beds with new sheets and pillows, the room had been cleared out a little for guests, almost as if the boarding house had been expecting them.

"So, what brings you guys to the neighborhood?" Arnold asked.

"We don't know." Atticus shrugged.

"I just got this email saying that I needed to come here and I decided to bring the boys with me," Cherry explained, showing the paper she printed from her computer. "I didn't wanna trust it at first, but they insisted."

"Yep, huh? Hey, where's Patch?" Atticus asked as soon as he noticed the Dalmatian wasn't with them in the room.

Patch was now following a scent and where it seemed to lead up to an upstairs bedroom.

"Hey, where are you going?" Arnold followed the puppy in case he went into something dangerous.

Patch seemed to open up the door easily and where he seemed to like the room especially the view above it. "Wow, this is so amazing." he smiled.

Arnold gave a small smile, allowing Patch to look at the room. "Okay, you can explore..."

Patch looked around and then suddenly saw a picture in a picture frame a went to get a closer look at it. "These must be his parents." he wondered.

Arnold went to his bed and straightened everything out. Patch came to Arnold with the picture in his mouth.

Arnold turned and took it, it was a blonde man with a brown-haired woman, both appeared to be in jungle clothes. "Hey... Where'd you get this, huh?"

Patch looked very curious. Patch pointed over there and then went up to the picture and tapped his paw on it and then pointed to Arnold. 

"These are my parents..." Arnold told him. "I always hope of them coming back, but they haven't... They're jungle explorers... For all I know, they could be dead..."

Patch frowned and nuzzled against him for comfort. Arnold put his arm around the puppy and softly sighed.

"Um, say, Arnold, could Patch stay with you while we're here." Atticus said.

Patch nodded.

"I see nothing wrong with that..." Arnold said with an exhausted yawn. "He can stay on the couch if he doesn't shed."

"Oh, don't worry, Patch doesn't shed." Atticus reassured.

Arnold took out a remote and made his wall open up to show a couch with a blanket and pillow on it.

"WOW!" Patch was surprised that he could do that. 

Arnold smiled, he then got his pajamas ready.

"I wish I could let Arnold understand me, so then I could speak to him like I do with Atticus and Cherry." Patch said.

Unknown to him, Arnold suddenly felt something as a star in the sky glowed green and then stopped glowing. Patch looked to Arnold in concern.

"That was weird..." Arnold rubbed his head after he got his pajamas on and went to sleep, feeling very sleepy. "Good night, Patch."

"Good night, Arnold..." Patch yawned as he got himself comfortable on the couch.

Arnold looked at the Dalmatian puppy oddly, wondering if he imagined that or not due to being extremely tired, but he shrugged for right now and went straight to sleep.

The rest of the night was peaceful, but something was happening outside that no one could hear from inside the Sunset Arms boarding house. Cherry was the only one who could hear it due to rarely sleeping and she went outside to investigate. Atticus, Patch, and Arnold met, deciding to explore too once they noticed the noise.

"What's going on?" Arnold asked.

"You must be a sound sleeper, Arnold," a tall country boy known as Stinky told him. "They've been hammerin' on it all morning."

"Look!" Sid pointed to a screen that read '30 DAYS UNTIL CONSTRUCTION BEGINS'.

"Wilikers!" Stinky gasped.

"It's so wicked awesome!" Sid cheered.

"No, it's not." Atticus said.

"It's terrible," Arnold added in. "Read it, we got 30 days to save the neighborhood!"

Suddenly, the screen changed to show the man they all saw yesterday.

"It's that Sheck feller." Stinky noticed.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." Cherry deadpanned.

"My name's Stinky, but yer welcome..." the boy told her.

Cherry groaned with an eye roll.

"We've got to get to work into saving the neighborhood." Patch said.

'It's time for a new world,' Sheck told the people like he did yesterday. 'Out with the old, in with the new. I have seen the future and it's Future Tech Industries.'

"He sure gives me the willies..." Stinky shivered.

"But you gotta admit," Gerald smirked. "He sure looks good in a suit."

"Who cares if he looks good in the suit?" Patch growled.

"Gerald." Arnold said to his best friend.

"I know, I'm just sayin'." Gerald shrugged innocently.

"Come on!" Arnold told him, deciding to make the most out of the time they had to get people to stop Future-Tech Industries.

"Hopefully one of these does work." Patch hoped.

Arnold and Gerald made paper copies about stopping the industries and even gave out hot dogs to people. The girl from earlier even bought a hot dog, but when she saw that it was to stop the FTI, she crumbled up the paper and walked away with a deep scowl.

"What's her problem?" Patch asked.

"That's just how Helga is..." Arnold sighed, not surprised that the girl had done that.

"Wait, Arnold, did you just speak to me?" Patch asked with a smile.

Arnold looked to the puppy, a little shocked. "I... I guess I did..."

"B-But how?" Patch asked.

"Wait a minute, last night, I felt something strange happen to me before I went to bed." Arnold told the Dalmatian.

"You did?" Patch tilted his head in curiosity. 

"Yeah..." Arnold replied. "I'm not sure how to explain it though..."

Patch smiled. "Well, I'm glad that it happened."

Arnold smiled too, he then decided to give Patch one of the leftover hot dogs.

"Thanks." Patch smiled before eating the leftover food.

Arnold smiled as he and the others still tried to convince the others. The days were going by really fast and so far, Future-Tech Industries still refused to give in to their petty attempts. Nothing seemed to be working.

"Six days left." Patch frowned.

"Six days to go and then sayonara, suckers!" the Jolly Olly Man laughed as he slammed his ice cream truck window shut.

"Man, the days go by, don't they?" Cherry sighed, sounding more miserable than usual. "Now what do we do?"

"Six days..." Arnold sighed as well. "Enough time to try maybe one last big thing. But what?"

"How about a party?" Rhonda suggested. "You always throw the most outré parties, Arnold."

"Yeah, a party is a perfect idea." Patch smiled.

"A block party." Arnold had a high hopeful smile. "With music and food..."

"And finger sandwiches." Rhonda gushed.

"Yeah, and food!" Harold added as he ate a chocolate ice cream bar.

"We should do a concert," Cherry suggested. "The music would be so loud that the news would see us and then that would have to make Future-Tech back off and people would be excited!"

"That would have to make the mayor change her mind." Arnold added in to that.

"So what should the party be called?" Atticus asked.

"How about 'Save the Neighborhood Debutante Ball'?" Rhonda offered.

The boys, even Cherry, didn't like the sound of that.

"'Block Power', baby!" Gerald offered, rising his fist.

"Blockenanny!" Stinky offered.

"Block Til Ya Drop!" Eugene offered before he instantly fell down.

"It's a 'Block Thing'," Gerald folded his arms. "Y'all wouldn't know."

"Block party, uh, party?" Sid offered.

"Arnold what about Blockapalooza?" Patch asked.

"Blockapalooza?" Arnold asked.

This won the other kids over though, liking that name.

"Okay, I'll need paper, WiFi access, and a copier," Cherry stepped in, being the artistic one. "I'll make flyers."

"Perfect." Atticus smiled.

"This is going to be so awesome!" Patch yipped.


	3. Chapter 3

Cherry was on her laptop with a printer as she sat at Arnold's desk and she was on Photoshop. "Okay, I need a main color..."

"Sorry, I can't help you with that, all colors look alike to me." Patch said to her.

"It's alright, Patch." Cherry said.

"How about something bright and colorful?" Patch suggested as he scratched himself.

"Yuck!" Cherry winced. 

"Well, we can't make it dark and gloomy..." Atticus said to her. "It'll attract no one."

"We'll compromise..." Cherry selected her favorite color which was blue.

"Wait, blue just might work." Patch smiled.

"Perfect..." Cherry said, she then printed out the flyer she had created and made about 100 copies to give to everyone in the neighborhood.

"This is going to work." Patch smiled.

Once everyone met up, they passed out the flyers to the neighbors who took them, though a few of them threw the papers away like they were nothing special. It was set: For Saturday, they would have their block party to help save the neighborhood.

"This is so going to work, I just know it." Patch smiled.

"I hope it does..." Cherry said to him.

"Oh, trust me, it will." Atticus said.

Time flew by again and it was time for the party. Arnold and Gerald acted as deejays and played hip hop music while every kid in their class showed up. The house borders even played instruments to act as a band to help their party out with the mailman helping them. The crowd really enjoyed the party so far.

"This is so awesome! So how am I also a part of the party/concert?" Patch said while he stood on a table with a sign saying 'The strongest pup, prove that you are stronger then him or his owner Atticus then you can win 50 dollars'.

"If someone can be stronger than you guys, they win $50." Cherry explained, putting her hands in her pockets. 

"You wanna try?" Atticus smirked to her.

"Are you kidding?" Cherry laughed a little. "I can't even lift my backpack with my laptop and a school book in it!"

"Okay then, anybody else?" Atticus asked.

Harold decided to give it a try.

"Dead man walking." Cherry mumbled.

Harold glared to her. "I wanna do it!"

"Good luck with that." Atticus told him.

"Oh, come on, Atticus, let Harold try." Patch smiled.

Atticus laughed, knowing what would happen. "Okay, Harold, let's see what you got."

"Oh, I am so going to enjoy this." Harold smiled.

'Wanna bet?' Patch thought to himself.

"Okay, what do I gotta do?" Harold asked.

"You know those carnival games where you test strength?" Atticus asked before stepping aside. "Give it a shot."

"HA! A sucker bet!" Harold laughed, he then grabbed the hammer and crashed it against the stand, making it go a little high for someone his age, but still, not a raging high score like an adult would get. "Beat that, Puppy!"

'Time for me to teach this kid a lesson.' Patch thought to himself.

Atticus took the hammer from Harold's hand and put it in Patch's mouth.

Harold laughed out loud. "Your dog looks so stupid with that in his mouth!"

Patch glared to Harold with a growl, then thumped the hammer against the game to make it ring the bell.

"No way! Well, then, what about you I bet you ten dollars that you can't beat your own dog at this strength game." Harold tempted.

Atticus and Patch looked to each other, wondering how that would work out since they were pretty evenly matched.

"And if it's a tie?" Atticus asked.

"Then nothing no one wins anything, no one loses anything." Harold shrugged.

Atticus and Patch shrugged and then went to their little game.

"So, how do you wanna do this?" Patch whispered.

"Might as well let it be a tie, besides, I don't like it when I have to hold back my strength all the time." Atticus whispered back.

"You're telling me..." Patch whispered.

Harold waited impatiently.

Atticus and Patch played their little game, both making the bell ring, due to having the same strength.

"Okay, how'd you guys do that?" Harold demanded to know. "No one can be that strong!"

"That's our little secret." Atticus said.

Patch nodded. Harold grumbled and stormed off. Patch and Atticus then shared a high-five with each other. The news reporters were coming and filming the whole Blockapalooza party, which was a very good sign.

"Yes!" Patch cheered.

"Did that dog just talk?" an announcer wondered. "Oh, must be hearing things from all this music..." she then put her fingertips to her ears. "We're going to hear about the ones responsible for this party."

Cherry, Atticus, and Arnold then walked out on stage after the borders finished their song number.

"You know what this is about," Arnold said as he held a microphone to address the crowd about why they were having this party. "It's our last chance to stand up and tell Future-Tech Industries that we won't sell. We won't let them tear down our neighborhood!"

"Yes! Nothing can ruin this party!" Patch cheered which to everyone else who couldn't understand him was just puppy barks.

"That dog sure likes a good party..." Stinky commented.

Their celebration was cut short as sirens wailed and helicopters came. A group known as the SPAT Team left their van and they started to literally tear the party apart and didn't care if they were ruining everyone's fun or not.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Cherry demanded, going to the man with the megaphone.

"This whole assemblage is illegal." the man told her with a sneer. 

"But we filed a permit!" Arnold defended.

"We never got any permit." the man shook his head.

"What?" Patch asked himself. "How did they not get a permit?"

"LEAVE THIS AREA AT ONCE!" a man on a helicopter called.

Arnold's grandmother was in front of the boarding house and looked like she wanted to fight with the officers and was willing to go through with it and even handcuffed herself to the front door.

"Come on, lady," an officer with a net demanded. "Nice and easy..."

Grandma hissed at him, refusing to go anywhere from her spot.

"I guess that's her answer for the officer." Atticus said.

Arnold and his grandfather came to try to stop Grandma from being arrested or taken away, but the officers refused to let them go to her.

"Never give up, kids!" Grandma told Cherry, Atticus, Patch, and Arnold as she was dragged away with the front door to be locked up for the evening tonight. "Never give in! Save the neighborhood! One if by land, two by sea, put the lime in the coconut, mix it all up!" she then laughed as the van rode off with her as a hostage.

"Okay, I have absolutely no idea what she meant by that after save the neighborhood." Patch said.

"It's... It's complicated..." Cherry shrugged.

The neighborhood seemed deserted after Arnold's grandmother vanished.

"Well..." the florist, Mrs. Vitello, sighed drearily. "That's it... This place belongs to Sheck now, they've even got the cops on their side... I give up." she then miserably walked away.

"Me too," Mr. Green frowned deeply. "I'm selling my place. Goodbye, old neighborhood, I'm gonna miss ya!"

"No, wait, we can't give up just yet." Atticus said.

"Oh, I guess I'll go and try to get your grandma out of jail, short man..." Grandpa told Arnold. "Then we better get packing."

"Packing?" Arnold sounded heartbroken. "Grandpa, we can't give up, it's not over!"

"Oh, that Sheck character has us covered from every angle, short man..." Grandpa shook his head as he walked off.

"Wait, where are you all going!?" Arnold cried until a banner fell on his head. "Come back! ...Come back..." he sounded hopeless now that he was alone.

'Out with the old, in with the new,' Sheck's voice came to them again. 'I've seen the future... Change is good...'

"STUFF IT!" Cherry growled, getting really annoyed and tired of him.

"If he was here, I would send him flying." Patch growled.

"I'm glad you guys are still here..." Arnold said to his new friends, but was still upset with the others for giving up too soon.


	4. Chapter 4

The remainder of the days were not going so well, they now had two days until they would all have to go away forever.

"Just two days left." Patch sighed.

"We know..." Cherry groaned as Gerald played one of the games in the arcade.

"There's gotta be some way we can stop those bulldozers." Atticus sighed.

Cherry texted on her phone.

"This is no time for texting..." Atticus looked at her.

"I'm calling my sister..." Cherry said. "She should be able to stop this..." she then sent the message. "Now we wait..."

"Doesn't your sister take a while to answer a text because of her jobs?" Patch whispered.

Cherry realized that and cursed under her breath, but then saw her sister did respond, but it was an unfortunate message. "'Sorry, Cherry, but I'm very busy right now and can't take texts or calls, tell Dad I said hi, but I'll see you real soon!'..." she then sighed. "Great, now how can we stop those bulldozers?"

"Well, we do still have the historic landmark theory." Patch said.

"Look, guys," Gerald looked to them, not understanding Patch, so ignored what he suggested. "There's nothing more we can do. We just have to face it. In two days, this neighborhood is coming down, and we're all just gonna have to move on!"

"I think I know who can help us with the historical landmark thing..." Arnold spoke up.

"What historical landmark?" Gerald asked, not knowing about that plan. "Besides, saving the neighborhood isn't a game, it's real life, and in real life, you can't always win." he then won the game he was playing, but it wasn't enough to cheer him up about what was going to become of their home. "I mean, I can win Runaway Bus every time I play it, but that's because it's a game!"

"We know, but still we can't give up." Atticus said.

"You guys did your best..." Gerald gave a small smile.

Arnold sighed and left the arcade with his new friends. "I bet Grandma knows a historical landmark around here somewhere..."

They passed various shops which were either sold or out of business, it was a truly sad sight indeed. Sid and Stinky were sitting on the sidewalk together, seeming to stare at the pavement.

"Hey, guys, what's wrong?" Atticus asked.

"Hey, guys..." Sid muttered.

"We were just lookin' at a piece of history." Stinky explained.

"It was four years ago, me and Stinky made these hand-prints in the cement." Sid showed them.

"'Sid and Stink'," Cherry read aloud, then glanced at the boys. "Sid and Stink?"

"Well, it only says 'Stink' on account of when I was just fixin' to write the Y to finish off my name, Sid's old man came moseyin' down around the corner and we had to hightail it." Stinky explained with a nostalgic smile.

"I always thought that made it even cooler." Sid smiled. 

"Yeah, we always figured it'd be here forever," Stinky sadly stood up. "But after they tear down the neighborhood, I reckon nobody will remember."

"I wouldn't give up on this just yet, guys." Patch assured them.

Stinky pet Patch on the head. "I wish you could help too, little feller... We'll catch ya later..." he then walked away sadly with Sid.

Arnold looked emotionally crushed about this, he wouldn't give up though. 

They continued to return to the boarding house until they saw Mr. Green outside his shop, looking hopeless.

"He looks like he could use some cheering up." Patch said.

"Hi, Mr. Green..." Arnold walked over, looking like he was about to sulk, just seeing everyone this negative was enough to even make him look on the down side of things.

"Look, kids," Mr. Green showed them a growth chart with other names scratched in. "That was me, four-years-old. My grandfather made the mark, he was so proud of me... He used to tell me 'Marty, one day, Green Meats is gonna be your shop'. And sure enough, my father took it over, and then, when he retired, he passed it on to me. That was the proudest day of my life. I always knew I'd pass the shop on to my own son. I guess now that's never gonna happen..." he then started to cry.

"Because they're going to tear down the neighborhood?" Atticus guessed.

"No, because my son hates meat," Mr. Green frowned with a tear in his eye. "He's one of those vegetarians. We haven't spoken in years..."

Cherry and Atticus shared odd glances, yes, this was sad, but it was the opposite of what they were hoping.

"Still," Mr. Green continued with a sniffle. "I never thought I'd be the last Green to run Green Meats! Another couple of days, it's all gonna be just a pile of bricks. 'Scuse me, you guys..." he then rushed off to cry in solitude and peace.

The four then finally made it to the boarding house with the pig, cats, and dogs rushing back to be let inside.

"Grandma!" Arnold called out.

"She's still in jail..." the short man named Ernie replied, carrying a box downstairs.

"But I thought they were just gonna keep her for one night..." Arnold remembered.

"She keeps trying to escape," Ernie explained. "She thinks it's a game... Fourth time they had to put her back."

"Wow." Atticus said.

"Mr. Hyunh," Arnold came to the Vietnamese man of the house. "Have you seen Grandpa?"

"Oh, Arnold!" the man had tears in his eyes. "We may never see each other again!"

"Hey, Mr. Hyunh," Oskar poked his head in his room as he cried. "Can I help you clean out your 'refridgetator'?"

"Well, at least this can't get worse." Patch said.

It just did. Arnold opened his bedroom door and there were boxes everywhere and his grandfather was taking down his alarm clock.

"Grandpa, what are you doing?" Arnold demanded.

"Uh, packing your stuff, short man." Grandpa replied like it was obvious. 

"But you haven't sold the house yet!" Cherry said to him.

"Please don't tell us that you have sold the house, please don't tell us that you have sold the house." Atticus begged.

"Oh, you kids, it's only a matter of time now..." Grandpa tried to break this down to them gently. "Everyone else has sold. Sheck owns the whole block now, except for us. I have to sell."

Arnold sighed. "I can't believe this isn't happening... Grandpa, isn't there a historical landmark or something that can save our neighborhood?" he then asked, using Patch's suggestion, but not explaining where he got it from.

"Well, I was born in this house..." Grandpa explained as he took out an old book from a box, giving it to his grandson and his friends to look at. "My dad got it in the 1890's, over 100 years ago, won it in a card game from a man his dad had fought in The Tomato Incident."

"The Tomato Incident?" Arnold asked.

"Have you forgotten your medication?" Cherry deadpanned, thinking maybe Arnold's grandfather was making up loony stories.

"Nope, The Tomato Incident is the real deal!" Grandpa reassured her as he looked through his old photos, about to tell them the story of this estranged incident involving fruit mistaken for vegetables. "Oh, yes, the Tomato Incident, now that was a good story."

"Yay, a story!" Cherry beamed.

Atticus, Arnold, and Patch looked at her oddly.

"I never had a grandfather before, leave me alone." Cherry glanced back at them.

"Anyways, please continue, sir." Atticus said.

"You see," Grandpa cracked the book open to show very old memories before he was even bore. "The Yanks won territorial rights to this land after the Pig War, but until then, we still paid taxes to the British Crown, on all sorts of goods... Including tobacco, meats, and vegetables. The whole town was in a snit over the new tomato tax. The Brits were adding a nickel on every tomato! People were up in arms, spoiling for a fight."

"What happened?" Cherry asked.

"The Tomato Incident, young lady!" Grandpa reminded her. "My grandpa and his neighbors turned over a cart full of British tomatoes on this very street! Soldiers were sent to arrest him, by order of the Colonial Governor, Archibald von Sheck!"

"Von Sheck?" the others asked.

'Maybe he's related to that evil man.' Patch thought to himself.

Grandpa wondered that himself, but shrugged it off for now. "Anyway, von Sheck's men attacked the neighborhood," he then continued his little story for them. "But the locals used Guerrilla Warfare... They made a barricade of upturned vegetable carts and fought back with whatever they had! And they were tomatoes..." he then smirked at that. "They were British tomtaoes... Which were small and hard, and really hurt if you got hit with one."

"So, you won then?" Atticus highly assumed.

"Correct," Grandpa nodded. "That did it. The Red Coats were in full ignominious retreat, and that's why we eat American tomatoes, you kids... Although I had one the other day that came from Chile... Very juicy."

"Grandpa, did that really happen?" Arnold asked.

"Of course it happened," Grandpa replied casually. "I sliced it up and put it in a sandwich."

"No, no, no," Cherry waved her arms. "This is the answer you guys need!"

"Yes, little lady, yes!" Grandpa smiled in excitement. "Juicy tomatoes from Chile! ...Why didn't I think of that?"

Cherry face-palmed. "One of you tell him for me before I say something I regret."

"Arnold, you better tell him." Patch and Atticus said the the football-headed kid.

"The Tomato Incident," Arnold prompted his grandfather. "If that battle took place right in front of the boarding house, this whole neighborhood should be a national landmark!"

"Well, there probably was a document that declared this block a historic sight once..." Grandpa suggested. 

"Then maybe we can find it," Arnold was happy again. "We've still got two days. We can show the document to the mayor and she'd stop the bulldozers. They couldn't tear down these buildings ever!" he then looked out the window with high hopes for everyone he knew in town to be back in business.

"Yeah!" Patch yipped happily.

"Sir, don't sell the boarding house," Atticus added with Arnold's little plan. "We're gonna track down the document and save the neighborhood!"

"You're all a bunch of bold kids!" Grandpa smiled to them. "And I'm with you all the way!... But you better hurry before the bulldozers knock down the whole kit and caboodle..." he then walked out of the room.

Cherry sat on the floor, reached into her backpack, and got out her laptop to find some research on where they could find a document to save the neighborhood.

"Is there anyplace we can go that might have the document?" Atticus asked. "Or maybe even it's location?"

"I'm working on it..." Cherry said as she now had her eyes mainly focused on the screen as her fingers worked at the keyboard. 

"Don't take too long." Arnold said to her.

"I never let anything come in my way when it comes to WiFi..." Cherry droned, very focused and deeply in thought as she researched possible locations for the document they would hope for.

"Well, hopefully, it won't take too long." Patch said.

"It shouldn't as long as I got a good connection..." Cherry said as she still looked at the screen, looking zombified, but she still heard them. 

"Is she okay?" Arnold asked in concern for Cherry's behavior.

"When she's on her computer, she can be like that." Atticus told him.

"Okay, I can't find a traceable place, but it says someone named Mr. Bailey can help." Cherry said after she found a proper search.

"Of course, he'll be able to help us out into finding the document." Arnold said, hitting his forehead.

"Does Mr. Bailey know a lot?" Atticus asked.

"Oh, yeah, definitely," Arnold smiled. "He helped me find Mr. Hyhun's daughter as my Christmas present for him."

"Cool, well, then, I guess we know where we're going tomorrow then." Patch smiled.

"I just wish my sister would answer..." Cherry sighed as she shut her laptop. "We'd be done with this in like two seconds."

"I'm sure that she'll find out somehow." Patch said,

"I just hope we have this mess cleared up by then..." Cherry sighed. "'Hey, sweetie, how was your summer?' 'Oh, I tried to save a neighborhood from being tore down, but no one could help... Ya know how it is'..." 

"She's probably just busy, what does your sister do anyway?" Arnold asked.

"She won't tell me..." Cherry sounded distant. "She used to visit all the time when I was a little kid... I also think she's jealous of me because Dad loves my mom more than he ever did hers and Tom's."

"Wow." Patch said.

Cherry shrugged. "She doesn't get along with my mom that well."

"Your mom?" Patch tilted his head. "Don't you and your brothers and sister have the same mom?"

"Oh, that's right, you probably wouldn't understand this..." Cherry said to him. "Patch, some people have half-siblings... You see, before my dad met my mom, he was already married to a different woman and they had kids together and since I have the same dad as them, that makes them my half-brother and half-sister, but we have different moms. And then when my dad met my mom, had me and my other brother, we became their half-siblings since we still have the same dad, but different mom... Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, I think so." Patch said.

"I swear, when I was a kid, it was complicated..." Cherry replied. 

"So, when can we see Mr. Bailey?" Arnold asked.

"He says as soon as possible, he would see what he could do and we can meet him about this whole neighborhood fiasco," Cherry explained. "I hope this works, I just wanna know who sent me that email and why they took us to a neighborhood that's gonna be TURNED INTO A PARKING LOT!" she suddenly shouted, sounding irritable, then rubbed her eyes. "Sorry... I get stressed if I stay in one place for too long."

"It's alright, I'm sure that everything is going to work out." Atticus said.

"Think your friend might wanna come with?" Cherry asked.

"Who, Gerald?" Arnold replied. "Probably."

"Well, we'll need all the help we can get..." Patch shrugged. "Hopefully nothing stands in our way."

"I'm sure that we won't have anything getting in our way." Atticus said.

"Better not..." Cherry said and then slammed her laptop shut for the night.

"Well, we better get some sleep." Atticus said.

"How can you people sleep at a time like this?" Cherry asked.

The others looked to her strangely, but they did get sleep. Even though the world was ending for them, they could still sleep, Arnold called his friend Gerald and arranged for him to come with them to see Mr. Bailey about finding the document they needed.

'Hopefully this will work.' Patch thought to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, they were already outside of Sunset Arms and Gerald had arrived.

"Okay, you guys convinced me." Gerald said to Arnold, Cherry, Atticus, and Patch. 

"Right," Atticus remembered their plan. "We are going to find that document, show the mayor, prove that the neighborhood is a legal national landmark and stop the bulldozers from knocking it down."

"And we're gonna do it all in the next 46 hours and 19 minutes..." Cherry added as the clock was ticking down, it felt so soon for some, but it would be plenty of time for the young heroes.

"Plenty of time." Gerald said.

"Come on, let's go." Patch said, excited.

"That dog worries me sometimes..." Gerald commented, not understanding Patch, but could tell he was excited.

They turned a corner at Green Meats to catch a bus, but had collided with the rude bully girl from earlier.

"Arnold!" the girl gasped the football-headed boy's name, but then looked very angry with him instantly. "I mean, watch where you're going, football head. Where is the fire?"

"Sorry, Helga, we're just in a hurry, we gotta find a government document that can save the neighborhood." Arnold told her.

The girl laughed at them. "If you think you're gonna save it, you're dopier than I thought," she smiled evilly. "All the papers are signed. In two days, this place is gonna be a parking lot. End of story. Any questions?"

"Yeah, do you think you could loan us some bus fare?" Arnold asked, seeing no money in his pockets, oddly enough.

"We're a little short." Gerald added.

"It's like I'm living in Loser City..." Helga rolled her eyes. "Oh, well, since my dad's Super Beeper Emporium is gonna be built on the ashes of your old lives, and I'm gonna get rich of all deal, I guess I can give you change for the bus." she offered money to Arnold and Gerald.

"Spoiled brat..." Cherry glared at Helga as they got on the bus.

"Yeah, and yet, I can't shake this feeling that there is something more about her." Patch wondered.

"Does she pick on you all the time?" Cherry asked Arnold.

"Yeah, she always calls me names and bugs me more than everyone else in school." Arnold replied.

"Maybe she likes you..." Cherry shrugged. "When I was growing up, if a boy bugged me, poked me, or pulled my hair, then it meant he liked me... Though if a boy ignores me these days, it's because I have the attractiveness of a dead moose and no one would be caught dead with me."

"Yikes." Patch winced.

"No one understands me..." Cherry droned.

"There's one thing you forgot to tell me," Gerald said to Arnold once they sat down, he didn't even seem to mind or care that there was a puppy on board with them. "Where are we going?"

"To the one person that can help us to find that document: Mr Bailey." Arnold informed.

"You mean that guy at the Federal Office of Information?"

"Right. I know he can help us."

"Yep, he will absolutely, positively--" Atticus said.

Scene changes to Mr. Bailey's work.

"I can't help you," Mr. Bailey told them after they stated their business and why they had come before he turned back to his computer work. "C-A-N, apostrophe, T. Can't."

"But, Mr. Bailey, this is important!" Arnold urged.

"I'm sure it is, but so is my job," Mr. Bailey explained. "Look at all this work I got piled up. I have no time to run a check on some tomato document that was probably lost 50 years ago. Now please, leave me alone. I don't know how you got in here anyway."

"But, hey, if we don't get this document, then everything in the neighborhood is going to be torn down." Atticus told him.

"Mr. Green's butcher shop, Mrs. Vitello's flower shop..." Arnold listed.

"The video store, the arcade..." Gerald added.

"How many ways can I say it?" Mr. Bailey replied apologetically. "I can't help you."

Patch whined as he saw something that got his attention.

Cherry looked to him and looked in his direction. "Dolly's Donuts?"

Mr. Bailey overheard that. "What did you say?"

Atticus, Arnold, and Gerald saw what she was doing and decided to join in.

"Oh, we were just saying that it's a shame that the bulldozers are going to tear down Dolly's Donuts." Atticus said.

"Yeah," Gerald frowned to show sadness about that. "Dolly's Donuts. Two days from now, they're history. No more Dolly's Donuts, Mr. Bailey..."

"But I love those donuts!" Mr. Bailey grew hysterical. "Nobody makes a cruller like Dolly. I've been going to Dolly's every day for 30 years. I don't think I can through a morning without 'em. How can they tear down an institution like Dolly's? That's just savage!"

"I know, but hey, what can you do?" Arnold shrugged.

"It's a shame you couldn't help us..." Cherry acted melodramatic, putting her hands under her face as she batted her eyelashes. "Well, we better get out of your way... And they look sooo good!"

They then turned around and began to walk away.

"Three... Two... One." Patch whispered.

"Wait a minute," Mr. Bailey stopped them as Patch predicted. "Where you think are you going? You want to save your neighborhood, don't you? Come on, then. We've got a document to find."

The others smirked that that worked. They had to stay a while for Mr. Bailey now had work to do, hopefully this would all be worth it.

"This is going to work, I just know it." Patch smiled.

Cherry was working at her laptop while Mr. Bailey worked.

"Are you helping?" Gerald asked her.

"Actually, I'm checking my fan mail..." Cherry replied simply. "And I got my first hate comment~... I'm super excited, because it's so lame... These people either need to look critique up... Or... Be a writer... Being a writer will teach you a LOT about what critique is... Look, another contest submission..."

"Wow." Atticus said.

"This is it," Mr. Bailey smiled once he finally finished. "When the computer stops, it'll spit out a card telling us everything the system knows about where your tomato document is."

The computer then printed out a paper which Arnold took very excitedly.

"So, what's it say, Arnold?" Patch asked, excitedly.

"'The location of your document is... Unknown'..." Arnold frowned once he read it aloud.

"Oh, come on!" Patch groaned.

"I'm sorry, kids..." Mr. Bailey replied apologetically.

"Thanks for at least being on our side..." Cherry muttered. 

"Yeah, thanks for your help, it's all right..." Arnold added.

"You did your best." Gerald finished.

They then decided to take their leave and let him get back to other work, until, surprisingly enough, they were stopped.

"Kids, it's probably not worth mentioning, but I know a guy, the city coroner... He's kind of, well, a nut," Mr. Bailey offered. "But he's a well-known history buff and keeps all kinds of crazy records on old historical papers. Maybe he could help you find that document."

"Where can we find him?" Arnold asked.

"And besides, how crazy can this guy be?" Patch asked.

Mr. Bailey gave them an address.

"Can't be crazier than my Uncle Emmett..." Cherry said as she looked at the instructions, they were going to leave tonight, they probably wouldn't have enough time tomorrow.

When they got to the address, Patch's question was answered.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Patch groaned.

"What is this place?" Atticus wondered.

"It's a city morgue..." Cherry said with a serene smile. "There's dead bodies here until they get buried or cremated..."

"And this is where he lives?" Atticus asked.

"Maybe... He might just work here..." Cherry shrugged.

"They look like they're closed," Gerald sounded spooked. "Let's come back later."

"We don't have time, come on!" Arnold urged.

They went into the cold room and tried to find what they were looking for.

"Hello?" Atticus asked. "Hello!"

There was a covered figure that moaned and rose up in front of them.

"Great Scott!" Cherry exclaimed slightly.

The blanket came down, revealing to be a creepy old man. "Hello, I was napping!"

"You remind me of Uncle Emmett..." Cherry narrowed her eyes then.

"I didn't scare you, huh?" the coroner asked her.

"I don't get scared..." Cherry insisted.

Patch got behind her and started barking.

Cherry jumped in surprise, her eyes bugging a little, but she looked angry. "Stop that!"

Patch chuckled, he did see a little scare in her eyes, so he was satisfied.

"Anyhoo, what can I do for you?" the coroner asked.

"It's about a Tomato Incident." Cherry explained.

"Yeah, do you know where it is?" Atticus asked.

"The Tomato Incident did indeed happen," the coroner told them. "In fact, it was a major historical turning point in the birth of the country."

"What about the document?" Arnold asked.

"There was, as I recall, a document stating that your neighborhood was officially declared a national landmark," the coroner informed. "Not an especially well-known document, but official nonetheless. And I just may have a file on it. I keep my historical records in here..." he pulled out a drawer to show a frozen corpse. "Oops... Wrong drawer." 

The body was disturbing and where it caused for Gerald to faint. Cherry was not looking at the body, she looked a little pale though.

"A goth afraid of death?" Patch asked.

"Shut up." Cherry mumbled sickly.

"Aha! Here we go..." the coroner took out a file after looking through a different drawer. "Here we go. Tomato Incident... Tomato Incident, Tomato Incident, Tomato, Tomato, Tomato. Tomato Incident! Here it is. According to my records, there was a document detailing the official status of your neighborhood as a national landmark."

"So, what happened to the document?" Atticus asked.

"Let's see... It was contained in a collection of local historical papers which were sold at auction five years ago to a private corporation," the coroner explained, sounding grave in his speech, but gave a goofy smile. "There's no record of a name, but there is an address. 66613 Riverside Highway. It's out on the peninsula."

"Um, thank you, sir, for the information." Atticus said.

They then left the morgue as the bus was about to pull up.

"I don't know why, but that guy gives me chills..." Patch said as he followed the others outside.

"I don't think I like where this is headed..." Cherry said. "That number started with 666."

"How bad could it be?" Patch asked.

"Six... Six... SIX!" Cherry repeated to him.

They all got on the bus then.

"You going up to the peninsula?" Arnold asked.

"Don't talk to the driver while the bus is in motion." the driver deadpanned.

"The bus isn't in motion." Cherry glared to him.

"Yeah." Gerald nodded.

The driver started the bus. "Now it is... Get behind the yellow line..." 

"No one likes a Negative Nancy..." Cherry slowly shut her eyes at him.

"Yeah." Atticus said.

Arnold and Gerald looked out the window and looked for 66613, very eager to get there.

"My stomach has that yucky feeling..." Cherry said.

"Oh, come on, what could possibly go wrong?" Atticus asked.

"Never ever say that!" Cherry scolded him. "It's like you're ASKING for something bad to happen!"

"That only works if you say it..." Atticus teased.

"I swear, someone's out to get me..." Cherry folded her arms, mumbling a little. "Who is this horrible person who goes out of their way to make my life miserable!?"


	6. Chapter 6

The bus eventually stopped, when they got off, they came to their destination, and unfortunately, it was...

"Future-Tech industries." The driver told them.

"Oh, come on!" Patch groaned.

"Hmm.... Mmm!" Cherry hummed with a victorious smirk to Atticus.

They got off the bus and the bus took off after them.

"Future Tech Industries?" Gerald scoffed.

"They've got the document?" Arnold added in disbelief.

"Hm, hm, hm. The document that could save the neighborhood is in the hands of the Future Tech?" Gerald sighed. "Now what, guys?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm going back home..." Cherry walked off with her hands in her pockets. "No point in risking it now."

"We're going in to talk to Mr. Sheck and that means we're all going." Patch said before starting to push Cherry inside.

"Get off!" Cherry grunted. 

They went into the FTI building, talking with a guard.

"You can't talk to Mr. Scheck, you can't be seeing him without an appointment." the guard informed them.

"Then we'll make one." Arnold suggested.

"Mr. Sheck doesn't make appointments." the guard told them then.

"I think it's time that this guy gets a taste of your strength, Atticus." Patch said to his owner, getting annoyed with the guard.

Atticus shook his head, it wasn't worth their time.

"All righty then, have a nice day..." Gerald walked off with Arnold.

"Right, goodbye." Arnold smiled to the guard.

Cherry was on her way out, but instead of going out the doors, Gerald and Arnold then snuck into a door and ran down the hallways. Atticus and Patch saw this, going with them.

Cherry glanced at them as they left. "Dang... Peer pressure..." she grumbled, shaking her fists and followed after them.

"Alright, let's find his office and then, let's get the document and then, let's get out of here." Atticus said.

"Guys, there's cameras everywhere..." Arnold noted.

"I think they're watching us." Gerald shuddered.

"HYAH!" Cherry threw her shoe at one camera, shattering the lens and caught her shoe, sliding it back on.

"Sweet move." Patch smiled.

"Let's keep moving." Atticus said.

They kept going along and ended up by the security room, but luckily, they weren't caught. 

"Man, this is creepy..." Arnold wasn't so sure about this. "Let's get away from here."

They all crouched down on their hands and knees, crawling along.

"Ow... Ow... Ow..." Cherry groaned as she followed them, a pencil in her pocket was stabbing her a little.

"Would you keep quiet?" Patch asked her.

"I can't help it..." Cherry winced. "There's a pencil in my pocket..."

"Then take it out of your pocket." Patch said.

"But what if I need it sometime!?" Cherry grunted.

Patch glanced to her. Cherry reached into her pocket and took her pencil out.

In an office...

"Security?" the man known as Sheck called to an intercom.

'Yes, Mr. Sheck?' security replied.

"There are three boys, a puppy, and a girl in the hallway, 40 feet from your security desk." Sheck informed.

"What, but, sir, I, um, um, um." The guard began to stammer.

"Apprehend them and bring them into my office!" Sheck demanded, not going to take no for an answer. He then randomly grabbed a cup of fruit and looked into the mirror. "Life is just a bowl of cherries~..."

When the guard found them, it would have been easy, but thanks to the strength that Patch had which was equal to Atticus's, he was lifted up by the Dalmatian puppy. The guard struggled to bring them to Sheck's office after handling Atticus and Patch, but could still catch Arnold and Gerald, who were now amazed at the two of them. He was now frightened of Cherry since she had vampire fangs. He was now leading them to Mr. Sheck's office.

"Sorry, I don't wanna do this, but I have to do my job..." the guard told them, trying to sound brave. "Um... You're not going to bite me, are you?" he nervously asked Cherry.

"Not unless ya want me to..." Cherry taunted him.

As soon as they entered the office, Mr. Sheck had seen that the guard looked a little shook up and nervous. Cherry scoffed once she saw Sheck, not finding him to be much of a threat.

"S-Sir, we found these children and th-this Dalmatian puppy in the h-halls un-escorted." The guard told his superior.

"Unescourted?" Sheck questioned.

"Yes, sir..." the guard replied, trying to sound brave and accomplished.

"Without security clearance?"

"That's right, sir."

The two kept going back and forth, the guard now realized he was in trouble for letting the kids and the puppy wander around without any supervision. Cherry didn't know why, but she found this argument to be amusing, she cupped her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh. Even Atticus found this amusing and tried so hard not to laugh. Arnold and Gerald kept straight faces though.

"There he goes again..." Sheck finally had enough with this guard. "I'll tell you what. Why don't you just go now? Go back to your duties as the head of security. How many other children or animals around there wandering the halls of Future Tech Industries unescorted while you stand here like a big, dumb stiff repeating 'Sir, yes, sir. Sir.'?" 

"Yes, sir!" the guard then ran away like the coward he was.

'Wow, he sure runs fast when he's scared of his boss.' Patch thought to himself.

Sheck chuckled about his cowardly guard before taking a seat and gave a friendly smile to his uninvited guests. "My name is Sheck... Who might you be?"

"I'm Arnold and this is my friend Gerald, and our friends, Atticus, Cherry, and Patch," Arnold introduced. "Me and Gerald live in the neighborhood that you want to tear down."

"That I'm going to tear down." Sheck corrected.

"But we heard there's a government document that says the whole neighborhood is a national landmark and can't be torn down by anybody!" Atticus defended.

"Really?" Sheck smirked evilly to them. "I've heard about that, too. In fact I had my people looking to it. And you know what they found? The document doesn't exist. The whole thing's just a rumor, bogus. I promise you if there were such a document, I'd never go through with my plan."

"But it must exist," Cherry retorted, slamming her hands on his desk, looking him straight in the eye. "It was part of a collection of local historical papers."

"Yeah." Arnold added in.

"Look, my young friends, as much as I admire your thoroughness and direct approach, the fact remains, I don't have the document, you don't have the document," Sheck didn't care. "So the neighborhood's coming down. Any questions?"

"What if we tell you we don't buy your story?" Gerald folded his arms.

"Hmm..." Sheck smirked, pushing a button once he was done with them. "Security?"

"Does he really think it's going to be that easy to get rid of us?" Patch asked.

There was a more strong and confident security guard, still not as strong as Atticus and Patch, but was still able to throw them all out the front doors. 

As soon as they were out, the bus had driven up to the entrance to pick up any passengers. 

"That went well." Cherry deadpanned.

"Sheck is not a good man, but he's a natty dresser." Gerald commented.

"How come we didn't stop that guard from throwing us out?" Patch asked his owner and human best friend.

"We'd probably get in worse trouble we're already in..." Atticus pet his dog. "Don't worry, we're coming back though... One way or another."

"Gerald, you wanna sleep over... You know... For old time's sake?" Arnold invited.

Gerald shrugged, he was still bothered about the neighborhood like everybody else, but he saw nothing wrong with that.

"I have a suspicious feeling about Sheck." Patch said.

"We all do..." Cherry said to him. "We're not gonna give up though... But... It's getting late, we should all go back to the boarding house."

"Are they talking to that dog?" Gerald glanced at his best friend suspiciously.

Arnold didn't answer that question, they just went on the bus and returned to Sunset Arms.


	7. Chapter 7

Cherry kept messaging her sister, but for some reason, kept getting the same response like it was an automatic response. "Terry, what are you doing...?" she mumbled to herself, getting the 'see you soon' text for the fifth time now.

"Whatever she's doing has got to be interrupted somehow." Atticus said.

"But what...?" Cherry sighed. 

"Guys, you won't believe this, but we found some kind of help," Arnold came to them. "Someone just called and gave us a plan to overthrow Sheck."

"Cool, so what's the plan?" Patch asked.

"The plan is we find Nick Vermicelli," Arnold started to explain, the plan sounded very long as it went on and in fact, it was. "Then we spy on him, until we find out where he's hiding the key to the safe deposit box. Then we steal the key, go at FTI, sneak in, and get the document put of safe deposit box. Then, we evade the security guards, and if we make that far all we have to do is head up town, find the mayor, and deliver the document, so she can declare the neighborhood a national landmark and stop the bulldozers."

"That's a long plan." Gerald said.

"I know, but we gotta do it if we're gonna save the neighborhood and we're gonna need some special equipment." Arnold said.

"All this may sound crazy, guys, but I've heard of this girl, Bridget, who lives across town, kind of an equipment specialist." Gerald suggested.

"Bridget? That's my cousin twice-removed." Atticus said, recognizing that name.

"Really?" Gerald asked. "You sure it's not a coincidence?"

"She does special work..." Atticus suggested.

"I have an address, we can go see her in the morning." Gerald offered.

"Perfect." Patch smiled.

Arnold and Gerald then went to go to bed for the night.

"Cousin?" Cherry glanced to Atticus about his connection to the aforementioned Bridget.

"Yeah, sorry, I don't really mention her a lot." Atticus said.

"This is the first time I've heard of her..." Cherry replied.

They just shrugged it off and went to bed, they were running out of time and Bridget was their last hope.

The next morning, they went down to the piers together to find Bridget and tell her why they needed her help. Cherry got the same message and just sighed, feeling maybe her sister didn't like her anymore.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Arnold asked his best friend.

"It's the address Fuzzy Slippers gave me..." Gerald replied, looking at his paper.

"I don't know if I trust anyone named 'Fuzzy Slippers'..." Cherry mumbled.

"But how do you know if she'll help us?" Arnold asked.

"Because that's what Bridget does Arnold, she helps people," Gerald insisted. "I mean, that's how the legend goes."

They came to a door at the end of the dock.

"Maybe she's not home." Arnold shrugged.

Gerald saw a button that had explicit instruction to not touch it. "What's this button?"

"Don't touch that!" Cherry grabbed his arm. "Don't ever touch that!"

"Yeah, don't touch the button." Atticus added in.

"Well, come on, what could happen?" Gerald shrugged, pushing the button anyway.

Suddenly, they were all trapped in a net and lifted to a window above them. There were two shadow figures in front of them and the first one came out, with long, wavy scarlet hair with a beauty mark on her cheek.

"Okay, which one of you touched my button?" the young woman demanded.

Arnold and Gerald both looked at each other.

"Me." Arnold and Gerald said in unison.

Bridget took them into her base, she then welcomed her cousin, and smiled, she had not seen him in a long time and vice versa. "How have you been?" she asked him casually.

"I've been great and I've been on many exciting adventures." Atticus smiled.

"I've heard..." Bridget gave a small smirk. "This is my newest partner..."

The second figure came visible to them, revealing herself, much to Cherry's shock.

"Teresa...?" Cherry whispered.

"Hey, Sis." Teresa greeted her sister.

"Well, now, this actually makes sense why she's been answering with the same answer." Atticus said.

"Same answer?" Teresa asked.

"I texted you like 50 times already!" Cherry explained.

"Oh, sorry..." Teresa said softly. "I had to do that because of my new job... But, remember, your mom, and Dad don't know any of this..."

"Yes, Teresa..." Cherry rolled her eyes a little. "You should work for Men in Black, that'd be so much cooler."

"Men in Black?" Patch asked.

"Never mind that for now, we need your help." Arnold replied.

The kids told Bridget and Teresa everything and why they had come for their help.

"Well, if you're gonna try to save the neighborhood, you're gonna need some equipment," Bridget informed them as she walked with Teresa to help them out. "State of the art. Mini condenser microphone for the ultimate concealed surveillance. Headphones and micro-radar tracking dish. 400:1 zoom lens binoculars with infrared capability for night vision. High tension, plastic wire, anodized steel pulleys and nylon straps for maneuvering in vertically-challenging situations. A two-way secure walkie-talkie for maintaining communication. And a synchronized, programmable, glow-in-the-dark watch set to Greenwich time and accurate within 1/10,000th of a second. It all fits into this cool AS-47 Junior Secret Agent utility belt."

"Uh, how much does all this cost?" Arnold asked.

"Since it's for such a good cause, it's on the house," Teresa replied. "We figure it's our contribution."

"Thanks, Tree." Cherry smiled to her half-sister.

"We'll take four of 'em, actually make five, if you have one for animals." Atticus said.

"As a matter of fact, we do," Bridget replied. "I should've known you'd come... I hear about Atticus's adventures all the time from Patrick and Emily, plus I hear a little of you from Teresa..." she then added to Cherry.

"Do the belts come in other colors?" Gerald asked.

"Black or pink." Bridget replied.

"We'll take black." Gerald accepted it, no way he was going to go around with a pink belt.

"What about this?" Arnold picks up a device, presses the button on it to show it was a remote control car.

"Why do we need a remote control car?" Gerald looked at him.

"You never know..." Arnold shrugged innocently, deciding to keep it in case of an emergency.

"Whatever you say, Arnold..." Gerald shrugged.

"Remember, you can't tell anyone..." Teresa reminded her sister. "Especially not your mom."

"I won't," Cherry promised. "I just miss you so much... You used to visit all the time when I was a kid."

"Well, I'm sure she will be able to visit you whenever she gets the chance." Atticus smiled.

"I'm terribly sorry..." Teresa added apologetically. 

Cherry gave her sister a quick hug, haven't done it for a long time now.

After that, they were all dressed in black suits with white shirts, black ties, sunglasses, black pants for the boys and a skirt for Cherry, and black shoes, while Patch did not wear pants, but still looked like a super spy like the others.

"Alright, the neighborhood is counting on you." Bridget told the small group.

"Good luck, kids." Teresa added.

"Thanks, cuz." Atticus smiled to Bridget.

Bridget smiled to him, she also gave a random kiss to Gerald, which made him faint, but she hugged her cousin. "I always believed in you...." she whispered. 

The five of them were now walking down the street, going on official business.

"We got less than a day to go through with this, we have to save the neighborhood and end this adventure, we don't have any lethal weapons, but we got spy gear with a boy and dog with Greek God strength, it's Tuesday, and we're wearing sunglasses..." Cherry made a Blues Brothers reference. "Hit it!"

"Hit what?" Patch asked.

Cherry face-palmed. "Just go..."

"Okay." Patch said.


	8. Chapter 8

They were walking down the street, looking cool, until the bus rode up and Helga had crashed into them again.

"Helga?" Gerald said out of confusion.

"What are you doing here?" Arnold asked her.

"I was walking..." Helga replied, innocent at first, but then glared angrily to them. "Walking, until you and your dumb new friends knocked me down, Football Head!"

"Sorry, Helga, we were just--" Arnold started to explain.

"Yeah, yeah, just out playing your dumb secret agent game," Helga scoffed with an eye roll. "Aren't you a little old for that, especially you two? Yeesh!"

"Come on, guys, we've got things to do." Gerald said.

"HA!" Helga scoffed. "What, some new plan to save the neighborhood?"

"That's the plan." the others told her as they got on the bus.

"Let's roll." Arnold told them.

"Try taking off those lame shades so you can see where you're walking next time!" Helga mocked them as soon as they got on the bus together. "Good luck, Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Sherlock Bones. You're gonna need it!"

"This girl is getting annoying." Patch said.

"If we see her again, you can bite her." Atticus allowed.

"With pleasure..." Patch growled as they rode off.

The bus was driving them by a neighborhood as a man with a ponytail was leaving his house, that was their target: Nick Vermicelli.

"There he is." Atticus said.

"Uhm, Mr. Driver?" Arnold spoke up. "Could you open the door? We need to get out really bad."

"We gotta follow him," Gerald added. "He's got a key."

"The bus stops at the corner of 43rd." the driver told them in dull monotone.

"We're making our own stop." Patch said.

The driver kept driving, but then glared as they made an unscheduled stop and let themselves out. "Juvenile delinquents..." he mumbled, then went to his next stop.

The five of them were then quickly and quietly following Nick as he was on his way into a club only for customers 21 and over.

"Alright, let's keep following him." Patch said.

"There's a problem with that," Cherry said, gesturing to the door. "You have to be 21 or over to go through those doors."

"And we're way under than 21." Gerald said.

"Maybe we can get in around back?" Arnold suggested.

"Oh, this is gonna end badly..." Cherry sighed.

Inside the club, there was a singer known as Ray Doppel singing to the people who were there to have a good time while Nick was meeting a lady friend of his. The boys and Cherry came in disguised as waiters. Patch was under a catering tray that wouldn't be delivered to any table.

"Alright, so where is he?" Patch whispered.

"There..." Cherry saw as she held a platter in one hand, balancing it, like a skilled waitress.

Atticus put Bridget and Teresa's microphone on a table so they could listen in on them.

"Hope this doesn't end in a disaster." Patch whispered.

Gerald was trying to make the microphone pick up Nick and the lady's conversation, but could only make out a few words. 

"What's going on?" Cherry asked.

"A key," Gerald whispered. "They're talking about a key."

"Maybe it's the key Deep Voice was talking about." Arnold suggested.

"Turn up the volume a little so we can find out where the key is." Atticus whispered.

Gerald tried to adjust the volume, but unfortunately, he overdid it, and it was overheard on the speakers and all of the patrons heard it. 

"Don't worry about the key..." Nick's voice said, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"What key?" an old man asked, confused.

"What the heck's going on!?" Nick glared once he overheard his own voice.

"Dang it, turn it off, turn it off." Atticus whispered.

The others tried to turn it off, but did eventually. The singer apologized for the interruption and started the song up again to get everything back on track.

"That was too close, guys..." Cherry warned them.

"Yeah, now let's get out of here before he sees us." Atticus whispered.

"Hey, get a busboy over here," Nick demanded from his table before looking in their direction. "Clean this up and get us more drinks. Yo, busboys! What are you, deaf? Clean up this mess or I'll make you wear it!"

"Look, it's the key," Gerald whispered once he saw what Nick was wearing as a necklace. "It's around his neck!"

"But how do we get it?" Patch whispered.

Arnold and Gerald forced themselves to wipe up the table.

"And get us two more Bartlett's pronto," Nick demanded, not noticing these were just a couple of kids. "No ice this time and no lipstick."

"Hasn't this guy ever heard the word 'please'?" Patch whispered.

Arnold's mustache was coming unstuck.

Gerald noticed this, so he tried to cover up their sudden leave, unable to get the key from him this time. "We'll get those for you right away, sir." he said, in the best grown-up voice he could make up.

"Right away..." Arnold added, also deepening his voice.

The two then rushed off to get out of sight. Atticus cherry and patch joined up with them.

There was now about fourteen hours until the deconstruction would start.

"We've got fourteen hours left." Patch said, worried.

"Times like this I wish Teller or someone were here..." Cherry sighed as she was starting to feel hopeless.

"Don't worry, all we have to do is keep following him and then when he falls asleep at his house, we get the key." Atticus said.

"That's creepy..." Cherry cringed, she knew what Atticus meant, but it sounded downright disturbing the way he worded it.

"It's the only way." Atticus said.

"Come on..." Cherry put her hands in her pockets. "He's over 21, he's probably gonna be at that place all night..."

"Might as well get comfortable then..." Patch sighed a little.

They all waited until the moon would come out, Cherry was on her laptop, Arnold and Gerald lazily sat around, Patch fell asleep, and Atticus was reading a book he brought with him.

'He should be coming out of there right about now.' Atticus thought to himself.

Cherry was so bored that her head hit her keyboard, but then a loud squeak from the laptop from the Sticky Keys alert, woke her up instantly. "SPAGHETTI SAUCE!"

Nick was seen in a far corner, leaving the place, and was now on his way home.

"Quick, let's follow him before he gets too far away." Atticus said.

They all then followed after Nick. Cherry was a little slow though, she had to close her laptop and squeeze it into her backpack.

"Let's hope this guy's house is close by." Patch said.

"It better be!" Cherry said as she was running slower than the others. "Guh... I hate running..."

"Why? It keeps you in shape." Patch said.

"Don't care!" Cherry grunted.

Eventually, the others decided to sneak up on the roof like true spies, also that way, they would be less likely to be seen or heard.

"Alright, now all we need to do is wait for him to fall asleep and then we get the key and get out." Patch said.

"Let's just hope he's ready for bed," Arnold added. "He should be. It's midnight."

It was going to take a while, Nick was still awake and watching TV, not falling asleep yet, but Gerald was.

"Oh, for the love of peat, when is he going to fall asleep?" Atticus groaned.

"What if he keeps watching TV for hours?" Gerald added.

"Maybe there's nothing good on." Arnold suggested.

Nick's phone was then ringing.

"Someone's calling him!" Arnold gasped, taking out Bridget and Teresa's microphone. "Quick!"

"No way, last time we used that, we almost got killed." Gerald denied.

"Come on, Gerald," Arnold insisted. "We gotta find out who's calling him. It might be a clue."

"Here, let me use it..." Cherry took the ear-piece and put it in her ear, wincing a little, but adjusted it. "It's someone called 'Big Bob'... Hmph, wonder what his mama calls him."

"Wait, Big Bob?" Gerald asked.

"That's Helga's dad's name." Arnold told her.

"Yeah?" Cherry asked.

"Yeah, he runs a beeper emporium." Arnold explained.

Cherry adjusted the earpiece a little to listen a little further in. "They're talking about a contract..."

"Sounds like Big Bob is having a problem with it." Atticus smirked.

"That's all I got..." Cherry shrugged.

Soon Nick hung up and Cherry took out the earpiece.

"Let's hope he falls asleep soon." Patch said.

Nick finally fell asleep with his TV on and snored heavily.

"I think he's finally asleep, guys." Arnold told the others.

"Finally, now all we need to do is get the key and then get out of here." Atticus said.

"All right, one of us has to hang down there and get the key, and by one of us, I don't mean me..." Cherry folded her arms, looking rather snobby about this next plan involving rope and super secret spy work.

"Alright, then I'll do it, you lower me down." Atticus said to his human best friend.

"Okay, just be careful..." Cherry advised. 

"When haven't I been careful?" Atticus asked.

Cherry took out a notepad and started to make a list.

"Shut it..." Atticus narrowed his eyes to her slightly and she smirked teasingly to him.

After hooking Atticus up, Cherry began to lower him down to Nick so then he could get the key.

"Careful, don't drop him, no pressure, you got this!" Patch coached.

"Please don't do that, it just makes me nervous..." Cherry said with her teeth clenched together.

"Oops, sorry." Patch said.

Nick mumbled in his sleep as Atticus was lowered above Nick so he could get the key.

'Almost there, almost there.' Atticus thought to himself.

Nick was mumbling in his sleep, but luckily, didn't wake up while Atticus was lowered to snatch the key. And where it wasn't easy as Atticus began to sweat from nervousness.

Nick was still asleep, but his eyes briefly woke up when a drop of sweat landed on his forehead. "Aww... It's an angel..." he smiled sleepily before going right back to sleep.

This caused for Atticus to sigh out of relief before getting the key off Nick's neck.

"Okay, reel me in." Atticus whispered to Cherry.

Cherry nodded and did her best to send him back up on the rooftop. Patch joined in to make it easy to real him back up. Cherry had an easier time now with Patch's help, she gave a small smile to him in thanks. Patch gave her a small smile in return in welcome. As soon as he was back on the roof, all five of them made a run for it.

When they made it down the street, a pay phone started to ring.

"Hello?" Gerald answered.

'Good job on getting the key...' a deep voice told them.

"Who is this and how did you know we got the key?" Atticus asked.

'Don't worry about that," the deep voice replied. 'Never mind. I'm watching all your movements. I'm everywhere and I'm nowhere, but mostly I'm everywhere.'

"You wouldn't happen to be a tri-century old bilingual French man, would you?" Cherry nearly deadpanned, narrowing her eyes in suspicion of this character.

"Yeah, are you?" Patch asked.

'I cannot reveal myself, but I most certainly am not,' the deep voice replied. 'You all seem confused about who's calling the shots here. I am. Without me, you'll never get the document, you'll never save the neighborhood. You've got to get into Scheck's office. His safe deposit boxes are behind his desk.'

"We have to get back to his office?" Arnold sounded reluctant.

'Right,' the deep voice reassured. 'Only this time, don't get caught. You've got to find a way to distract security away from the main entrance. Now, it's exactly 2:00 AM. The bulldozers roll at seven. What are you waiting for?' the voice then hung up.

"Well, that was mysterious." Atticus said.

"Man, that Deep Voice is a pain in the--" Gerald folded his arms.

The bus was making a round and stopped a few blocks away from them.

They rushed to the bus, finding the same driver as usual.

"So, how have you been?" Cherry asked the driver casually.

"Yeah." Gerald added in.

"So it's the four juvenile delinquents and spotted mutt who busted my door," the driver glared to them. "Think you can make up your own rules, come and go as you please, huh? Bunch of renaissance men."

"Yeah, sorry about that, but we're kind of in a hurry, Murray." Atticus said.

"Don't talk to the driver while the vehicle's in motion," the driver, Murray, told them, then flinched once something fell on him. "The stinkin' bus is fallin' apart." he then drove his usual speed to take them to his next stop.

"I know that we're not suppose to talk to you while the bus is in motion, but could you drive a little faster?" Arnold asked Murray.

"I drive 25 miles an hour, no exceptions, no discussion." Murray droned.

"I wonder what bee got in his boxers?" Gerald mumbled.

"Hey you'd have a bee in your boxers too if you were in my moccasins," Murray replied. "My girlfriend left me two weeks ago. Her name is Mona. She said she wanted a whole man."

"A whole man, what's that mean?" Gerald asked.

"You lost your real leg in a war, didn't you?" Atticus asked, thanks to his detective skills.

"You got it," Murray rolled up his pant leg to show a metal prosthetic leg and even banged his hand on it to show it was solid steel. "She thought it was cool at first. And then, in walks Johnny Come Lately and I'm out the doggie door. You meet a girl. You think it's forever, and then the whole thing goes kablooey. She broke my heart, and although I still love her, I made up my mind that from now on, I ain't gonna care about nothin' or stick my neck out for nobody. I'm only looking out for number one."

"That was an inspiring story..." Gerald commented, though didn't sound at all interested. "Guys, are you sure there isn't another bus we can take to FTI?"

"Would you rather like to wait for hours for the next bus to come?" Atticus asked him.


	9. Chapter 9

They finally made it to the building and there seemed to be extra security cameras.

"If we get caught again, we'll definitely be toast now." Cherry commented.

Arnold pulled out the remote control car.

"Arnold, this is no time to be playing with toy cars." Gerald scolded.

"I'm not playing, Gerald." Arnold replied, using the car to help them make it through the security system to continue their mission.

"He's going to use it to get the security camera's attention and then it will alarm the guards." Atticus told him.

"Exactly." Arnold added.

"Ugh... About another five hours..." Cherry sighed. "Can we pull it off?"

"Yeah." Patch nodded.

"Let's just find out..." Cherry sounded distant, her eyes were slowly opening and closing.

"Cherry, you okay?" Atticus asked.

"I'm getting sleepy..." Cherry groaned a little. "I may be a night owl, but it's quite late."

"Don't worry, I'm sure this won't take long." Patch said.

The guards went after the car, allowing them to sneak by, undetected.

Arnold led them to where Deep Voice told them to go and went behind the desk with them. "Deep Voice said to look in the room behind his desk."

"Where do we find a secret room?" Atticus wondered.

Cherry looked at the book shelf and took one book out, which made the shelf spin like in a haunted house.

"Should have known that it was going to do that." Patch said.

"Come on!" Cherry told them.

The others then joined her and came into a secret room. Cherry opened a secret door and there were a large number of safe deposit boxes.

"Well, we better get started." Gerald sighed.

"Where do we start?" Patch asked.

"Might as well the beginning." Arnold said, trying the key in the first box, but it didn't open, so he moved onto the next one.

Gerald kept count so they wouldn't end up using the same box twice or accidentally skipping one.

"Oi, when are we going to find the right one?" Patch asked.

"Might as well get comfortable..." Cherry mumbled.

Arnold kept checking the boxes in order, not caring how long it would take, but would hope they would have bought time.

The others were starting to fall asleep as it was after 2:00 in the morning and they had been up since after dawn.

"Which safe deposit box are we at now?" Patch groaned.

"997..." Gerald droned.

"Uh-uh..." Arnold shook his head.

"998..." Gerald still counted, but looked like he could fall asleep right now.

"Nope." Arnold replied.

"999..." Gerald nearly collapsed then.

Luckily, that actually was the right box!

"Yes!" Atticus cheered.

However, their excitement turned to instant disappointment.

"Empty?" Arnold, Gerald, Cherry, Atticus, and Patch asked.

"Where's the document?" Arnold asked with wide eyes.

"Looking for something?" a familiar voice came behind them all.

"When did he get here?" Patch asked with a frown.

"Well, here you are, back again," Sheck sounded anything but pleased to see them. "After I patiently explained that your mission is completely hopeless. It still is, though I'm less inclined to entertain you after you broke into my building again for the second time. Did you think you could get away with this? There are cameras everywhere. I record everything that goes on, day and night. Did you think I'd let you win, let you save your little neighborhood? Don't you realize who I am? I am Alphonse Perrier Du Von Scheck!" he then turned on a light to reveal a piece of historical art he kept in his office. "I can trace my ancestry back to the founding fathers. Do you know when we lost control of this city? When that ridiculous Tomato Incident took place in your pathetic little neighborhood," he then grabbed one picture and threw it down to the floor. "Tearing it down and putting my name upon its place will be revenge of the sweetest kind!" he finished with an evil grin.

"But the document, where is it?" Arnold asked.

Sheck laughed evilly in response. "Unfortunately, like your little plan, it's about to go up in smoke..." he then grinned sadistically, taking out a lighter and lit the document up instantly before any of them could stop him. "My guards will now lock you away where you won't cause more trouble."

A few guards came to lock away and take away the kids and the puppy.

"Now can we use our incredible strength on them, Atticus?" Patch asked.

"It's immoral, but... Yes..." Atticus allowed.

Arnold and Gerald used the sheathed sabres against the guards who came for them and ran off. Cherry scared off her guard with her fangs and jumped over him after he fainted, running with Arnold and Gerald. Two other guards cornered Atticus and Patch.

"And now to tie them up." Patch said.

Atticus then finished off with Patch, as soon as they were done, they ran with the others.

Sheck wasn't going to let them get away for that. "Oh, get them for Heaven's sake!"

One guard had a hard time running since Arnold had hit him in a very bad place.

"Now what do we do?" Patch asked.

This time Patch really was talking, thanks to his Equestrian medallion/Pound Puppy tag.

"Wait, did he just talk?" Gerald asked while looking at Patch.

"We don't have time to explain, come on!" Cherry urged them.

"Yeah, we'll explain later, right now, we have to keep running!" Atticus called out.

They ended up in a labyrinth hallway and rushed all around to find the exit.

"We're gonna have to split up." Atticus said.

"I'll lose the guys on the stairway, you head for the garage," Gerald suggested. "See if you can find a way out! Call me on, walkie, go!"

"Cherry, you go with Gerald, me and Patch will go with Arnold." Atticus said.

"And BREAK!" Cherry called before running with Gerald.

Arnold then ran with Atticus and Patch to the other way. The phone on the wall was ringing as Arnold, Atticus, and Patch ran past it.

"Wait, the phone, it might be Deep Voice." Patch said.

"How would he know?" Arnold wondered.

'Arnold, what happened?' Deep Voice asked, somehow knowing Arnold's name.

"Where are you?" Arnold wanted to know that more than answering the question. 

'Never mind it,' Deep Voice replied. 'Where's the document?'

"We didn't get it, Sheck burned it." Atticus scowled.

'Burned it?' Deep Voice asked.

"Yeah, right in front of us," Arnold added with a deep frown. "He laughed at us. He said we never had a chance. He's gonna win, Deep Voice."

'Don't give up, Arnold.' Deep Voice supported.

"But what else is there for us to do?" Patch asked.

"It's over..." Arnold sighed sadly.

'It's not over. There must be something. Aren't there any other copies?' Deep Voice suggested.

"No way, he'd never have any copies, he had the only one," Atticus frowned before remembering what Sheck said." Wait, there were surveillance cameras there."

'Video cameras?' Deep Voice asked.

Yeah, the video cameras record everything that goes on in Scheck's building!" Arnold remembered as well then. "All the time. Scheck said so himself."

"Yeah." Atticus and Patch nodded.

'Then the document must be on a videotape where he burned it,' Deep Voice suggested. 'Arnold, if you get to the room where the video recorders are, you can find the tape and catch a video of him burning the document.'

"Yes, that's perfect!" Patch cheered.

"Yeah, and then we can show the tape to the police and it'll be as good as the document itself!" Arnold regained his confidence before hanging up. "We can win, Deep Voice. We can save the neighborhood. Come on, guys!"

Atticus and Patch smiled now that Arnold was confident in this adventure again.

"To the camera room!" Patch howled.

Atticus, Patch, and Arnold rushed to the security camera room. Luckily, no one was in there, but the cameras still filmed. Arnold smiled once he found the tape of Sheck burning the important document to the neighborhood's existence and made a tape out of it so they could show Mayor Dixie and have her make FTI back off their neighborhood.

"Yes! Nothing can possibly go wrong!" Patch cheered.

"Shh!" Arnold and Atticus warned him in case someone wouldn't be too far away and possible hear them.

"Sorry..." Patch whispered, but still had an excited smile.

It didn't take them long to make the tape and take it out to show the mayor the proof.

"Great, now let's get out of here before Sheck finds out." Atticus whispered.

They ran away and an intruder alert tracked them down, but luckily, no guards found them as they rushed upstairs. 

"Guys, guys, we got it!" Arnold called through his walkie-talkie.

"How!?" Cherry replied as she and Gerald were in front of the building now. "Sheck burned it right in front of us!"

"He did and we got it the whole thing on videotape," Patch informed her. "We can show it to the police. It's just as good, maybe better."

"Yeah." Atticus nodded.

"Guys, I am moved by your greatness," Gerald smirked. "You've got to get out of there!"

'We gotta wait until the guards are gone.' Arnold advised.

"Okay, we're on the street outside the building," Cherry replied. "We'll get a cab and meet you out front in two minutes. We still got 24 minutes before the bulldozers start up!"

"We can make it, see you both in two." Arnold, Atticus, and Patch said.

They ran until the phone suddenly rang, that was very odd, even if it had been happening a while.

'Don't go out in the hall yet,' Deep Voice told them without even greeting them. 'It's swarming with guards.'

"Wait, how do you know we're here?" Atticus asked suspiciously.

'Don't worry about it,' Deep Voice replied urgently. 'The point is you've got the evidence you need to save the neighborhood. Now we've got to get you safely out of the building. If you're caught now, all is lost.'

Patch then saw a shadowy figure behind a glass door.

"Deep Voice, tell us how we can get out of here." Patch said.

Deep Voice started to explain, but Patch wandered off to the glass door. Atticus was concerned about this and followed his puppy, making Arnold do the same.

They all saw the shadowed figure and came out onto the roof and met the stranger who had been helping out this entire adventure. "DEEP VOICE!"

Lightning flashed and the masked, cloaked figure tried to hide themself from their sight. "Don't come any closer... Ignore that man with the voice box!"

"Who are you?" Patch asked.

"Uh... No one in particular." Deep Voice backed up.

"No more games, Deep Voice!" Arnold demanded. "We're not doing anything until we know who you are!"

"Yeah and we're going to find out now!" Atticus glared.

Deep Voice backed up a little. Patch jumped high into the air and tackled Deep Voice onto his back and removed the mask and hat, then gasped at what he saw.

"Helga?!" Atticus, Arnold, and Patch asked out of shock.

"You!?" Arnold asked. "You're Deep Voice!?"

Helga chuckled nervously. "Looks like it..."

"But I don't get it," Arnold continued, not angry or disappointed, just amazed. "How come... How come you couldn't just tell me what you knew? Why'd you have to make up all this crazy secret identity?"

"No reason." Helga replied quickly.

"But Helga, you just helped us to save the neighborhood." Arnold, Atticus, and Patch told her.

"So?" Helga nearly scoffed. "What's your point?"

"That's a pretty amazing thing to do for someone you claim to hate." Arnold replied.

"Yeah, well, I'm a pretty amazing person, Football Head..." Helga sounded distant.

Atticus noticed how distant Helga sounded and smirked as he knew why she sounded like this.

"But, I thought you were on your dad's side," Arnold said to his bully. "I thought you were gonna get rich of the whole deal."

"Money isn't everything." Helga folded her arms.

"Helga, why'd you do it?" Arnold asked.

"It's my civic duty." Helga replied.

"Helga." Arnold slightly narrowed his eyes.

"'Cuz I like a good mystery?" Helga started getting edgy and nervous.

"Come on, Helga, what's the real reason?" Atticus asked.

"Oh, I don't know, guys, I guess... Maybe I just took pity on Arnold and his stupid friends." Helga still didn't exactly say.

"Well, why?" Arnold questioned.

Helga stammered slightly, but still stalled, and gave out the best she could. "'Cause... I guess... maybe I don't hate you as much as I thought, okay?" she forced out. "I guess maybe I even kinda like you a little. I guess you might even say I like you a lot."

"You do?" Arnold asked. "You did this for me?"

"That's right, Hair Boy!" Helga glared. "I mean, criminy, what else are you supposed to do when someone you love is in trouble?"

"Love?" Arnold's eyes widened slightly.

'She loves Arnold? Wow, Cherry was right, well, at least about Helga liking Arnold part.' Patch thought to himself.

Helga went onto a rant and tangent about how she truly felt about Arnold, not caring that she had witnesses. "You heard me, pal. I love you, LOVE YOU. Who else do you think has been stalking you night and day, building shrines of you in a closet, filling volumes of books with poems about you? I love you Arnold! I've always loved you ever since I first laid eyes on your stupid football head! From that moment and every moment since, I've lived and breathed for you, dreamed of the moment I could finally tell you my secret feelings and could grab you and kiss you and—! Oh, come here, you big lug!" she then grabbed him and kissed him hard on the lips.

"Wow." Atticus and Patch said in unison.

Arnold was so shocked, he did not know what to say or what to do in response. His hat randomly was then blown off his head.

"I'm confused," Arnold spoke up. "Did you just say you love me?"

"What are you, deaf?" Helga asked, now sounding angry again.

'Guys, are you there?' Cherry's voice was heard through the walkie-talkie.

"Not now!" Helga told her through the radio.

"Not now?" Gerald glanced oddly.

"Who the--" Cherry added, curious and suspicious.

"Oh, Arnold, just hold me." Helga cooed to the football-headed boy.

"Wow, this is just wow." Patch said.

Arnold was so overwhelmed by Helga's confession that he needed some time to think it over.


	10. Chapter 10

Atticus checked his watch. "Guys, we got 20 minutes until the bulldozers come!" he realized. "Come on, let's roll!"

Arnold took a rope and a hook and helped them off the roof to safety as the rain stopped, but thunder still rumbled.

"Going down." Patch said.

"By the way, Helga, it doesn't affect you that Patch is talking?" Arnold asked.

"Patch can talk?" Helga asked. "Huh, guess I haven't noticed..."

"Seriously?" Patch asked. "How could you not notice?"

Helga, Atticus, Patch, and Arnold made it to a stop and a familiar bus came up, much to their reluctance. 

"Sorry, we couldn't find a cab." Cherry said to them.

"Get in," Gerald said before seeing Helga with them. "Helga? What's she doing here?"

"No time to explain, Gerald," Arnold replied urgently. "We got exactly sixteen minutes to get back to the neighborhood to stop the bulldozers."

"Behind the yellow line." Murray warned them.

"Yeah, yeah, just get to driving." Patch said.

Murray didn't even phase out that a dog talked to him and drove his usual speed. The others were by Murrays' side while Cherry was curled up on a seat, leaning her head against the window, her eyes were shut and her mouth was half open, making strange noises.

"Murray, could you please go faster?" Atticus asked.

"I do 25 miles an hour," Murray replied. "No exceptions, no discussion."

"But people's lives are at stake!" Arnold cried out.

"It's not my problem." Murray still refused.

"The thing is, Murray, we're kind on in a hurry," Gerald urged. "A whole neighborhood's about to be torn down and we have a proof that can stop 'em from doing it. We have to get there in fourteen minutes."

"I'll get you there when I get you there, which, according to my schedule, will be in about 44 minutes." Murray droned.

'Does nothing faze this guy?' Patch thought to himself.

Murray ignored Arnold and Gerald's protests.

"Don't you care that every building from 33rd to 39th Street is going to be demolished?" Atticus asked, disappointed.

That got Murray's attention however. "Did you say 33rd to 39th Street?"

"Yeah, why?" Patch asked.

"Hey, that's where Mona lives!" Murray realized before actually speeding the bus up for them. "Hang on to your goodies, kids. We got a neighborhood to save."

The kids and puppy flung back as soon as Murray sped up.

"Huh?" Cherry snorted, slowly waking up. "What...?"

"We just motivated Murray to go faster." Patch and Atticus smiled.

"Is there anything we can do?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah," Murray replied as he kept going super fast, above his speed limit. "You can get down on your knees and pray this hunk of junk holds together long enough to get us uptown in one piece."

"Already on it." Patch said before beginning to praying that they would make it.

"Look!" Arnold pointed to a blocked road from FTI men who were going to ambush them.

"This guys sure is persistent." Atticus said.

Cherry yawned and came over, rubbing under her glasses. "What'd I miss?" she asked, slightly mumbling from sleepiness.

"Oh, nothing much, except for that!" Patch pointed to what was in front of the bus.

Cherry yawned, rubbing her eyes, and saw, then let out a gasp. The drawbridge was now starting to rise. Gerald started to pray in a different language.

"I didn't know you were religious." Arnold said to his best friend.

"Neither did I." Gerald muttered back.

"We can make it." Atticus said.

The bus jumped over the open space between the two bridge halves. Murray hits his head hard and passes out. Arnold panicked and tried to wake him up, but the driver wouldn't and his fake leg was also stuck.

"Oh, no, he's passed out and his fake leg is stuck!" Patch panicked.

Gerald tried to free Murray's leg. "I can't budge it!"

"Oh, perfect." Helga scoffed.

"Let me give it a try." Atticus said.

Gerald backed up.

"Guys, I'm all for help, but we're in a bus WITH A KNOCKED OUT DRIVER!" Cherry reminded them.

Arnold then had an idea, remembering something from earlier. "Gerald, you'll have to drive."

"Him?" Helga scoffed.

"Me!?" Gerald gawked at his best friend. "Are you crazy!?"

"He's right, Gerald, you'll have to drive." Atticus said after getting Murray's foot off the gas pedal before Patch puts a little pressure on the gas pedal.

"I'll get the peddles since your legs are too short." Patch offered as he leaned against the pedals.

"Are you guys crazy!?" Gerald gaped at them for their suggestion.

"Gerald, you're the top-scoring Runaway Bus player at the arcade," Arnold encouraged. "You can do it!"

"That's a game!" Gerald refused. "This is real life!"

"You can do it, Gerald, I know you can." Arnold assured his best friend.

"Why do you always have to do that, why you always have to look on the bright side?" Gerald grilled his best friend. "'We can save the neighborhood, we can find the document, you can drive the bus'."

"Somebody has to." Arnold shrugged.

"Oh, man..." Gerald got up on the seat. "Get ready, Doggy!"

"You got it, but I can't do these pedals by myself." Patch informed him.

"One of you also has to get Murray's leg off the gas pedal!" Gerald yelled out.

"His leg is already off the gas pedal." Patch told him.

"It is?" Gerald asked.

"Yeah, I got it." Atticus showed.

"Well, someone take the brakes then!" Gerald sounded rushed as he gripped the steering wheel.

"I guess I'll take the brakes." Helga said.

"BRAKE!" Gerald cried as soon as he saw a grubby old man pushing a cart filled with cans.

Helga then put pressure on the brakes. The man avoided the bus, but the bus hit the cart.

"Clutch!" Gerald cried.

Arnold used the clutch.

Sheck was nearly with them, smiling evilly to the heroes. "You take the low road, and I'll take the high road~"

"Are we almost there?!" Patch asked.

"I'm trying!" Gerald growled, under a lot of pressure due to driving the bus.

"Sorry." Patch apologized.

They drove and drove and drove, until there was a section of the highway missing.

"Guys, we can't make it!" Gerald cried.

"Maybe we get out and jump out!" Helga suggested.

"No, use the truck!" Arnold suggested, seeing a truck stopped at the missing section of the highway. "We can jump the hole!"

"Jump the hole!?" Gerald glanced at his friend. "Arnold, that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!... Let's do it!

"Hey, what happened?" Murray asked, waking up.

"It's okay, Murray, we're jumping the ramp." Arnold replied.

"Ramp?" Murray asked before looking. "What ramp?" Once he saw the ramp, he passed out again.

"Ah, great..." Cherry deadpanned. "Terrific! Fantastic! Best day ever!"

"Hopefully we'll be able to make it with the speed we're going." Patch said.

"Get ready!" Gerald told the others as he continued to drive over the ramp.

Patch began to pray while keeping pressure on the gas pedal. The bus jumped off the ramp and was flying over the boarding house and it landed successfully on the other side.

Cherry looked very sick and started to wither, collapsing onto the floor of the bus, but not exactly passing out like Murray. "Oof..."

"You okay, Cherry?" Atticus asked.

Cherry gulped, looking very sick now. "I don't even know anymore..."

"Well, don't worry, we're almost there." Atticus said.

"We better be..." Cherry slowly shut her eyes. "Dying is more painful than I thought it'd be..."

The bus crashed through a destruction barricade and they were getting nearer their destination.

"Now what?" Gerald wondered.

"Grandma!" Arnold gasped.

"What about your grandma?" Gerald asked.

"I thought she was in jail." Atticus said.

"She was in jail." Arnold pointed to show his grandmother was in a bulldozer.

Grandma started to knock over everything else that was going to destroy the neighborhood.

"Yes, Grandma!" Arnold cheered for her.

"You know she's going back to jail, Arnold." Patch commented.

"I know." Arnold replied.

"Um, guys, there's a bulldozer heading straight towards us!" Atticus warned them.

"Hang on!" Gerald told the others.

The bus fell onto its right side, crashing in the process and stops. People came out to look at the bus. TV reporters and the mayor had also arrived. The bus was in a wreck and everyone was worried that no one could have survived that.


	11. Chapter 11

But to their surprise, Arnold, Gerald, Helga, Atticus, Cherry, and Patch came out of the bus alive.

"I got it!" Arnold emerged first. "I got the tape!"

"Oh, that's wonderful, Arnold!" Grandpa smiled to his grandson, then looked curious and confused. "What tape?"

"The tape that'll prove this neighborhood is a national historic landmark and can never be destroyed," Arnold explained. "All I need is a VCR, and I can show you."

"We're way a head of you, Arnold." Bridget's and Teresa's voices said.

"Bridget? Teresa?" Atticus and Cherry said, confused, not seeing them anywhere.

"Up here." 

They all looked up and saw the two females up on a roof top at the base of the Sheckvision screen with a VCR in their hands.

"Tape them." the TV reporter suggested.

Bridget and Teresa used ropes with hooks to get themselves down, amazing the crowd with their stunts and bravery.

"Who do they think they are anyway, Catwoman?" Helga scoffed.

Teresa gave the VCR to Arnold and he happily put the video tape in it. The others then saw the video of Sheck burning the document and the title and subject matter of the document was visible so the others could see why it was such a big deal.

'Sheck is busted now.' Patch thought to himself with a smile.

"Oh, my word... That's enough for me..." Mayor Dixie commented, then looked to the camera. "As your mayor, I reclaim this entire neighborhood as a national historic landmark never to be torn down."

This made everybody cheer in victory. Teresa and Cherry shared a comforting hug with each other for the victory.

Sheck had finally arrived and glared to his men. "It's after 7:00, what are you idiots waiting for? Knock it down!"

The workers had enough with Sheck and pointed angrily at the screen to show they weren't going to take him anymore.

'Oh, he's in trouble now.' Patch thought to himself with a smirk.

"It's that lying crook, Sheck!" Grandpa called. "Come on! Let's get the car!"

Sheck actually backed away and tried to make his escape in his car and tried to drive away, but the kids and puppy were in front of him. Grandma smirked evilly and showed that she had removed his tires. Policemen made Sheck leave his car and handcuffed him to take him straight to jail.

"He's going to be in jail for a long, long time." Atticus told his cousin.

"You got that right." Bridget agreed with a smirk.

"I would've gotten away with it if it wasn't for that meddling football head, the kid with the weird stack of hair, that girl with the fangs, the boy with powers like a Greek god, that spotted mutt, and that brat with one eyebrow!" Sheck yelled out in defense. 

"Tell it to the judge, you big donut hole!" Helga scoffed, slamming the prison van doors shut on him.

"Yeah, tell it to your cellmate in Folsom!" a man with graying brown hair added, standing next to Helga.

"I feel like we're missing someone." Patch said.

"Yeah, but who?" Cherry rubbed the back of her neck.

Nick was trying to run away, once Atticus and Patch saw him, they were about to go and pummel him, but the man known as Big Bob had other plans for him and hit him hard in the face.

"That'll do," Atticus and Patch said in unison. "Jinx!"

Bridget laughed a little at their little game.

"Willikers, what a day!" Stinky exclaimed. "Fistfights, car chases and political intrigue."

"And don't forget about the overpass blowin' up!" Sid added.

"And it's only 7.30 in the morning!" Harold replied, but looked instantly sleepy as he sat down on something. "I wanna go back to bed. I'm exhausted."

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Grandpa yelled out in fear.

"Why do I have a feeling something is about to be destroyed?" Patch asked.

The building with the Sheckvision screen blew up. The sound of glass shattering is heard as the screen fell down, but luckily, no one was hurt. The image of Sheck was now staticky and was eventually gone forever with the breakdown of the screen. 

"What do ya know," Grandpa remarked. "I thought we set the explosion down the middle of the street," he then looked to the borders and then ran away. "You didn't see nuthin', scatter!"

"Do we even want to know?" Patch asked.

"Probably not..." Cherry shrugged.

Murray and Mona reunited with each other and even made up, becoming a couple again.

"I'm really sorry about ignoring you, Cherry," Teresa said to her sister. "My life's just been crazy after I joined the agency, that's why I couldn't visit you, Dad, or your mom lately."

"Thanks for telling me, Terry, and I won't tell them either." Cherry replied with a small smile.

"Thanks, Sis." Teresa smiled.

Cherry smiled, hugging her sister, but still had a tear in her eye because of how rare it was she got to see her sister these days.

"I live in Washington," Teresa whispered. "You should come over and see the Smithsonian."

Cherry grinned at the invitation and happily accepted. But of course, she wouldn't go anywhere without her best friend. "Terry,... Could I invite someone along?"

"Of course..." Teresa agreed. "I always wanted to meet your friends."

"Oh, you're the best..." Cherry still hugged her sister.

"I know and you can bring along as many friends as you want." Teresa smiled.

Cherry smiled to her sister. 

"Wow, I've never seen Cherry that affectionate before..." Patch noticed.

"Me neither, I guess this is a rare occasion." Atticus smiled.

Patch smiled back.

"Come on, Tree, it's time to go..." Bridget told her partner.

"Right..." Teresa agreed, she then handed a paper to Cherry before going off. "I'll see you again soon, little one..."

Cherry frowned deeply that Teresa was leaving, but looked to the paper, it was a picture of Teresa at work and on the back, there was a note and a phone number with the year on it. 'Don't forget, you are always in my heart.'

"Hey, Cherry, you okay?" Atticus asked.

"I'll be fine..." Cherry sighed a little, putting the picture under her shirt for now. "I just miss her so much."

"I'm sure you'll see her again someday." Atticus assured her.

"Yeah." Patch smiled.

"I hope so..." Cherry sighed a little. She then flinched, took out her iPhone and saw that she had a new friend request from Facebook. She then looked to Bridget and Teresa as they left and smiled.

Teresa put her own phone down and waved to her sister with a smile and left with Bridget.

"Well, looks like you got two new friend requests," Atticus smiled. "And they're Teresa and Bridget."

Cherry moved her finger and accepted them, now being friends with Teresa and Bridget.

"We saved our neighborhood  
They could not tear it down  
They could not turn our smile  
Into a frown~" Eugene sang.

"Show's over, Eugene." Gerald glanced to him.

"Yeah, no singing, please." Atticus said.

"I sure wish your parents could have been here to see this, Arnold." Patch said.

"Me too..." Arnold said softly and nearly sad, but he still smiled.

Arnold's grandparents then came to him and gave him a hug. Patch was sad for him and then suddenly sensed something and went inside the Sunset Arms building, going up to the attic.


	12. Chapter 12

Everybody went to return home to celebrate their neighborhood being back and was never going away from now on.

"Huh? I've never seen this attic before." Patch said.

"Whatcha doin', Pup?" Grandpa came behind the Dalmatian puppy.

"I sense something in here like it use to belong to someone and it's close." Patch said before going further into the attic.

Grandpa glanced to Patch, but shrugged and followed him up to the attic. "No making messes now... We already got a pig for that."

"Don't worry, sir, I won't." Patch said before bumping into a shelf, causing for a book to land on the floor.

Grandpa came to the book, he then picked it up once he realized what it was. "Oh, my..."

Patch looked to the book, very curious. "What is it?" he sniffed it, his dog instincts telling him to do so. He then decided to take it to Arnold, thinking that maybe he would know what the book was.

Grandpa wanted to put the book back, but he saw the puppy was curious, so he let the dog have it. Patch smiled, barking a thank you, then carefully picked up the book in his mouth and rushed off to find Arnold.

"I guess he wants to show Arnold the book." Arnold's grandpa smiled.

Patch left the attic, looking around for Arnold. Cherry was in her guest bed, fast asleep, snoring as she was catching up on some sleep she had missed due to their little mission to save the neighborhood. Patch didn't need to look far as he found Arnold in his room.

"Hey, Arnold, look what I found." Patch muffled.

Arnold moved some of his old stuff back, and looked over his shoulder. "Whatcha got there?" he then bent down and picked up to see what the book was.

"I don't know what kind of book it is, but I think it was something important." Patch said.

Arnold removed some of the dust and cracked open the book, carefully and gently flipping through it.

"Seems like that book has been in the attic for years," Patch said before gasping. "Wait, Arnold, how long have your parents been gone?"

"Feels like my whole life..." Arnold said softly. "Grandpa said they left home when I was a year old... I was only a baby at the time, but... I just feel like something could've happened since they haven't been back since."

"Arnold, I think this book once belonged to your father." Patch said.

"Handwriting doesn't look familiar..." Arnold wasn't sure, then again, he didn't know about his father's life that much.

Suddenly, a familiar photograph fell from the book.

Arnold picked up and in fact saw his parents together. "Mom... Dad..." he whispered, very overcome with emotion right now.

Patch then came up to Arnold's side and decided to look over the picture and book.

"So those are your parents... And this book, what kind of book is it?" Patch asked.

"It must be a journal..." Arnold said as he sat on his bed.

"What's a journal?" Patch asked.

"It's kind of this book you can make up yourself about things that happen to you." Arnold explained the best that he could.

"Oh, Darla has one of those, she calls it a diary though." Patch understood now.

"Well, this journal might be able to give me the answers I've been looking for." Arnold said.

"Should we read it then?" Patch asked.

"I think I better show it to Grandma and Grandpa first..." Arnold suggested, but he sent a confident smile to the puppy. "Thanks, Patch."

"You're welcome." Patch smiled.

To Be Continued...


End file.
